1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for managing a state of an image forming apparatus and for analyzing an abnormality of the state thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A management system has been known, in which a management apparatus remotely monitors a state of an image forming apparatus such as a printing apparatus or a multifunction peripheral (MFP). In this management system, the management apparatus arranges for a serviceperson who performs maintenance work of an image forming apparatus.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-321931 discusses a management system in which a printing apparatus detects occurrence of a jam and transmits an alarm and a counter value at that time to a management apparatus. When the management apparatus receives the alarms, the number of which is equal to or more than a reference number, against occurrence of the jam while a preset number of sheets are printed, the management apparatus deems that possibility of a reoccurrence of a jam is high, and that it is necessary to arrange for a serviceperson.
However, the above management method is not suitable for commercial printing that involves delivering printed materials to a customer until a designated deadline. The reason is that when maintenance work is performed by arranging for a serviceperson after the management apparatus detects a malfunction of the printing apparatus, a downtime of the printing apparatus is long, so that a missing of a delivery deadline can occur. Thus, in commercial printing, sometimes, a management system is adopted in which an operator is deployed at a printing site to perform the maintenance work on site. In this case, sometimes, the management apparatus which detects a malfunction of the printing apparatus notifies the operator of an abnormality of the printing apparatus.
Further, High-quality printing is demanded in commercial printing. Accordingly, an operator at a printing site performs printing for confirmation, such as “adjustment of hue to a customer's favorite” and “adjustment of a printing position”, and confirmation printing such as continuous test printing for “causing the printing apparatus to stably operate”. In commercial printing, naturally, sheets, the number of which is larger than a number of sheets ordered by a customer, is printed due to such confirmation printing in addition to failed printing caused by a device error. In a printing company which performs commercial printing, it is demanded from a cost viewpoint to minimize the number of printouts generated by the confirmation printing and the test printing.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-152771 discusses, as a technique for managing the number of printouts other than normal ones, a technique for determining waste sheet occurrence conditions that define occurrence factors of waste sheets generated due to failed printing, for counting the number of printouts while the waste sheet occurrence conditions are satisfied, and for measuring the number of waste sheets corresponding to each of the waste sheet occurrence conditions.
However, the above related arts have the following problems. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-321931 discusses a method for analyzing a malfunction occurring in a printing apparatus, but in the method, a relation of events triggering analyses to analysis processes is limited to a predetermined one-to-one corresponding relation. In other words, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-321931 discusses a method that performs only derivation of a dealing process corresponding to alarm information of the malfunction. Thus, this method neither extracts a foretaste of various abnormalities and malfunctions occurring in the printing apparatus nor performs causal analysis of the abnormalities and the malfunctions.
The related art according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-152771 can derive waste sheets generated due to a predetermined factor. However, this related art cannot derive a foretaste of a malfunction of the printing apparatus or analyze a cause of the malfunction. In commercial printing, a certain amount of confirmation printing occurs inevitably. On the other hand, sometimes, due to an abnormality of the printing apparatus, the number of printouts is larger than a normal value. However, malfunctions and abnormalities of the printing apparatus are not always detected as preliminarily defined events. Accordingly, a structure for flexibly detecting malfunctions and abnormalities of the printing apparatus is required.